DHS To Meet With Congressman On Ammo Purchases

Paul Joseph Watson: After weeks of silence, the Department of Homeland Security has finally answered a letter sent by New Jersey Congressman Leonard Lance (R) by agreeing to meet with the lawmaker and explain why the federal agency is purchasing ammunition in huge quantities.

After refusing to respond to 15 members of Congress about the purchase of over 1.6 billion bullets, preferring instead to release glib statements to the media, the DHS has finally been forced to take action.

“A spokesman for Lance’s office said Wednesday DHS has answered a letter Lance sent last month, seeking a congressional briefing on the large ammunition purchases. Lance’s office and DHS are working to schedule a meeting,” reports NJ.com.

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Lance initially voiced his concerns about the bullet buys during a Tea Party event on March 15 before following up with a letter five days later addressed to DHS chief Janet Napolitano noting that there was, “growing public concern surrounding the Department’s procurement of ammunition.”

He was then joined by 14 other members of Congress who signed a letter written by Californian representative Doug LaMalfa asking if the purchases were “being conducted in a manner that strategically denies the American people access to ammunition,”

Despite widespread concerns that the bullet buys are part of an arms build up against the American people which also includes the purchase of 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles, the federal agency insists that the ammo is being purchased in bulk to save money and that the bullets are for training purposes only.

That explanation doesn’t wash with people like former Marine Richard Mason, who told reporters with WHPTV News in Pennsylvania earlier this month that hollow point bullets (which make up the majority of the DHS purchases) are not used for training because they are more expensive than standard firing range rounds.

“We never trained with hollow points, we didn’t even see hollow points my entire four and a half years in the Marine Corps,” Mason said.

As we have repeatedly emphasized, the argument that the DHS is saving money by buying hollow point rounds doesn’t add up because they cost twice as much as standard full metal jackets.

Last month, a weapons manufacturer who supplies ammunition to the federal government told the nationally syndicated Savage Nation radio show that the ammo purchases were an attempt to “control the amount of market that’s available on the commercial market at any time,” by forcing manufacturers to hold back stock.